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Zazen Bengals

Updated March 9th 2016

We have Kittens – Accepting deposits

Our bengals are intelligent, playful and affectionate kittens raised with love in our home

Our Goal is to create beautiful Kittens and young adult Cats that are healthy, well socialized and friendly, extraordinarily intelligent and joyfully playful. Our kittens are not for the faint of wallet – they can be very expensive. The cost of our pet kittens includes DNA testing of the parents to screen for genetic diseases, age appropriate vaccinations, grain free high protien diet (including our homemade raw food), expert socialization, and the knowledge derived from 11 years of bengal breeding. You are taking home a kitten and will always have access to the knowledge of a well educated and caring breeder.

We are the only bengal breeders in Colorado specializing in early generation cats at this time. Early generation cats are very special, very rare and require more early socialization than regular domestics. Litters from early generation mothers are very small, usually only one or two kittens per litter. Early generation queens usually go into heat only once a year so the wait list can be longer to obtain one of these special kittens. If you are considering adopting an early generation bengal it is important to go to www.hybridlaw.com and check on the laws regarding hybrid cats in your state. It is also important to check county, city and HOA municiple codes to ensure that early generation cats are legal to own where you live. We will not sell a bengal or an early generation bengal to someone who resides in a location where these cats are not legally permitted. To do so is to subject them to confiscation and probably euthanasia. Early generation bengals are not for everyone, but the challenges they sometimes bring are usually dwarfed by the joyful rewards you receive when you befriend one.

Retired Queens Zazen Imperial Tabu and Gogees Wyld Ziva of Zazen

About our small but exclusive cattery

Zazen Bengals is a small in home hobby cattery located in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. We breed bengals in the hopes of developing specific breed traits and we usually produce only a few small litters each year. In the past 2 years after being involved in a bad car accident I have retired and rehomed many of our cats. Due to health considerations we have downsized our cattery and have only 4 breeding queens and 2 Studs. (which is far more manageable than twice that number) We are focusing mostly on early generation cats and will be planning for only 2-3 litters per year. We have always focused on quality rather than quantity. As breeders, the temperament and health of the parents is one of the most important aspects of choosing cats to develop our bloodlines. As important as socialization is, the genetic predisposition of the cats personality often determines how well social interaction will be sought by the kitten as it grows up. Cats who are always defensive, overly skittish, afraid of people or constantly in a state of fight or flight do not make good pets or companions no matter how beautiful they are.

F1 Queen Nikita likes to supervise especially when I am making their raw food

Our litters are small, usually 3-4 kittens. We are careful to avoid inbreeding and retire our breeding cats usually when they are about 3-4 years old. We breed to futher certain traits and when we keep a kitten from a litter, we often retire the parents. We have lived with Bengals since 1998 but did not decide to begin breeding until the Fall of 2004. Our bengal lines originated from Centerwall ALC’s and Baghara Segura Khan of Kent lines. We are adding the Sancho Dos line by bringing in Nikita and Sultana who are F1 hybrids. We are also adding a new stud who comes to us with the bloodlines of Taro and Trance. We have five ALC lines and hope to add a queen from the Amur Leopard cat within the next year. This is a very exciting time for our cattery.

Imperial Tabu is one of our retired Queens and was named Denver’s Best Cat at the Colorado State Fair 2011. She lives with Cindy in Northern Denver.

Our cats have their own private space in the basement. There is a special large cattery room we call “Alcat-traz” which is full of exercise equipment, climbing areas, and toys. Our studs are contained in smaller enclosures that are part of the larger cattery space. They have to be kept in separate enclosures to prevent unplanned pregnancy and apart from each other because intact studs often fight for dominance. Maintained in this way, the boys have the opportunity to socialize with each other and with everyone else – but are not allowed “conjugal” visits that are not authorized.

Zanzibar is a beautiful silver spotted Queen with a pawprint rosetted pattern

We have a separate room we use as a nursery & maternity area in which the pregnant queens are placed approximately two weeks prior to birthing. The Queen’s and their kittens are kept in this separate area until the kittens are at least 12 weeks old and have had two sets of vaccinations. Although we have many large and covered kennels available with doors open for the cats to use as warm dens to snuggle in, we do not cage our cats under normal circumstances – only if we have to isolate them for health purposes.

This is Mirage our first F2 female, daughter of Nikita and Vladimir. Though her ‘official’ name is Mirage, we call her babycakes because she is a loving, clingy little baby. We almost changed her name to “stop, drop and roll” because when she sees me she stops, drops onto her side and flips onto her back to offer her belly for tummy rubs. Early Generation cats can be just as loving and affectionate as ‘domestic’ cats. Regardless of the type of cat you are looking for, good temperment is a quality that should be the priority for any breeder.

We have always loved cats, yet bengals have a very special place in our hearts. Their personality and ‘catitude’ make them absolutely joyful and loving companions and it is our hope to share that joy with others. The cats we have in our breeding program have all been chosen not only for their exceptional beauty and future potential, but mostly because they have social, loving and sweet personalities to enhance our lives and which they will pass on to their kittens.

Ming Po became a champion and was our first stud. He is retired and lives in Northglenn with Amanda, Jayden and John

F1 Nikita at 6 months

Bengals are incredible cats with very intelligent and lively personalities. They are very active, very smart, very stubborn and very loving. It has been our experience that although Bengals are very loving and affectionate cats, they can also be very independent and are only very rarely the kind of cat who sits quietly on your lap. Male bengals are far more likely to become lap cats than the independent female bengals.

Ch Kashmira was our first Queen and mate to Ming Po – she lives in east Aurora

The Rest of our Furry Family
As much as we love cats – we also love our dogs, and our cats have the benefit of growing up around them once they reach 12 weeks of age and have completed all their vaccination series (Baby kittens are kept in a nursery room with their moms until they have completed at least 2 series of vaccinations and then are only allowed supervised visitation with the dogs until they are 16 weeks of age)

T Bone is our Malamute Hybrid. He came to us as a puppy in 2010 and still acts like a puppy at 120 pounds. Our cats pick on him and he referrees their spats if things get too intense. Believe it or not, that bone he is gnawing on will be gone within 2 days. He loves the cats, even charging in to the rescue when the kitties have disputes. His four inch long coat saves him from any claw damage and the cats run off dragging long tufts of shed hair clumps from his undercoat. Recently we had to shave T Bone for the summer and sadly he looks ridiculous though is surely cooler. We just keep telling ourselves his beautiful coat will grow back.

In Memorium

Trey came to me from a rescue when he was 2 years old. He was a Mexican Timber Wolf and he shared our lives for 10 years until he passed in June 2007 from hemmoragic cancer of the spleen. His wolf blood made him very different than a regular dog, not pet, but a companion. He was also very smart and very gentle – and he could escape from anything if he wanted to go running. After I cemented the base of the 6 foot privacy fence so he couldn’t dig under it, He chewed through 3 of the fence boards so he could push them aside and walk through the fence often taking our other dogs with him. One day he and our shep mix Syha wandered the half mile to walmart walked through the doors and stood at the sandwhich counter in line with everyone else. The employeeds leashed them and tied them outside and used tag info to call me. Despite being chewed out, he was unrepentent. The next week he and Syha crossed Hwy 14 and wandered through a car lot until they found a truck they liked. Then they jumped in the bac and began barkinig since they were ready to go home. Trey was an incredible companion, the most intelligent lupine I have ever known. He was loyal and protective of all of us and had a heart so full of love … We miss you old man, and we know you still watch over us

Zazhi our Great Dane came to us as a puppy and lived to the ancient age of 13 yrs and 9 months. She was very protective of us and very playful by nature. I will never forget watching her leaping across the yard like a gazelle in flight – daring anyone to even try to catch her. She was our ‘princess’ and slept on 4 inch soft cushions with blankets pulled up over her. She aged gracefully and when it was time we let her go and we will always miss her.